In the Shadow of Dragons (Aftermagic Book 1)

by Sonya Bateman

  Worse, right after she killed the man, two more patrols dragged her off and threw her into a riot truck — and drove off with her.

  “Goddamn it,” he snarled, looking around for Diesel. He hated having to send his friend into a situation like that, but no one else could get her back. Diesel was the only one with a chance at it. He spotted the man turning from an officer he’d just dropped unconscious and waved him over.

  Gunfire behind him. Noah spun and blasted a black-clad officer who was about to take a second shot at Isaac. The man sat down on the ground, put his weapon aside and stared vacantly at the sky.

  “What happened?” Diesel said at his shoulder.

  Noah only flinched a little. “Guess.”

  “Teague?”

  He nodded. “Couple of them threw her in a truck and drove off. There.” He pointed to the vehicle lumbering east down the street. But instead of going to the barricade a block away, the truck turned down the driveway of a small diner that looked closed for the day.

  That wasn’t right at all. But he didn’t have time to figure it out. “I’m sorry, man. Can you…”

  “Yeah. Meet you back home.”

  “Thanks.” Noah clasped his shoulder.

  With a nod, Diesel turned and ran after the truck.

  Noah gave himself a single, frustrated breath and focused on the fight. It was winding down, with most of the patrols who were still conscious less interested in shooting, and more interested in hiding. But they’d call in reinforcements soon. Time to make sure the clinic was secure, and then clear out.

  He headed for the building, blasting an officer into a blinking stupor on the way. Damn, he’d really felt that one. He was already bruised to hell using so much magic — if he didn’t lay off soon, it’d be a nasty bleed. But he had to see this through.

  He only hoped whoever Rook wanted to protect had made it through this.

  When he opened the door and walked into the clinic, his first horrified thought was that BiCo had already slaughtered everyone inside and removed the bodies. The spacious lobby was a mess, with overturned chairs and scattered papers and possessions. It also seemed empty.

  Then he heard a click, and a female voice said, “I don’t know how to use this thing, but I’ll figure it out.”

  He blinked and looked toward the voice. A woman in a coffee-stained white lab coat stood behind the desk at the far end of the room, holding a patrol-issue shotgun. The clinic doctor, he presumed. Her hands shook slightly, but her stare was steady.

  And two pairs of BiCo boots stuck out from the other end of the desk.

  He smiled, though she couldn’t see it beneath the bandanna. This was one brave civilian. “No need for that,” he said. “As long as you’re safe, I’m gone.” He looked around again. “Er. There were supposed to be a bunch of people in here?”

  “I snuck them out the back when the fighting started. Had to drug these two after they started noticing, but they’ll be fine in a few hours.” She nudged one of the booted feet. “I mean, this is a clinic, and I’m a doctor. I know what I’m doing with drugs.”

  “I see that.” Okay, so brave didn’t quite cover it. This woman had a steel spine.

  “Are you with the Darkspawn?”

  The question surprised him enough that he didn’t answer right away. She came around the desk, lowering the gun with a hopeful look in her eyes. “Listen, I have information you need,” she said. “It’s about the Eclipse—”

  “Don’t.” He held a hand out. Bold as this woman was, if any of the patrols who weren’t knocked out came back in here, she’d be marked for death if they heard her telling him anything. And Noah had a very strong feeling this was who Rook wanted to protect. “I’ll try to have someone contact you, but that’s all I can do for now,” he said in a low voice. “I can’t risk your life letting you talk to me.”

  He’d already turned back to the door when she said, “I’m the one risking my life. I want to. You have no idea how important this is.”

  Brave, and stubborn. Definitely woman enough to affect Rook the way she obviously had. “Okay, I will have someone contact you,” he said. “Promise.”

  “Can’t I just tell you now?”

  He shook his head. “Someone risked a hell of a lot to send us here, to make sure nothing happened to you,” he said. “I can’t take any chances.”

  Her brow furrowed. “Who?”

  “Rook.”

  “Uh. Is that a name?”

  Damn. He’d assumed she knew the informant, since she was trying to pass information to the Darkspawn. But she must’ve known him as himself, or one of his cantrip identities. At least he wasn’t compromising Rook, since he could be any of half a dozen people who also weren’t him. “It’s more of a title,” he said. “You’ll have to trust me on this. He cares a lot, and he’s not someone I want pissed at me. I have to go now.”

  “All right,” the doctor said uncertainly. “Thank you.”

  “We’ll be in touch. Please, get out of here yourself before Rook kills me.”

  “I will.”

  He nodded and went back outside to gather the team, to retreat before reinforcements showed up. Part of him hoped Diesel had already rescued Teague and would be there waiting, but he didn’t see either of them. Maybe they’d gone straight to the vehicles, though he doubted that.

  He hated to do this, just leave without him, but he’d have to trust Diesel would make it back later. Unfortunately, the man would understand.

  Which just made him feel worse about it.

  CHAPTER 46

  Yukon Street; Casper, Wyoming

  August 12, 4:20 p.m.

  Teague knew they hadn’t driven very far from the fight. The slow-moving truck had taken a right turn that must’ve been before the barricades, and now it was stopped somewhere, idling. The officer in back with her unlocked the cuffs, handed her the phone, and got out without saying anything to close the door on her.

  It wasn’t long before the phone rang. The screen said unknown caller, but she knew who it was.

  “Julian.”

  His name was all she got out. She couldn’t possibly settle on one thing to say to him, out of everything. All of it more mixed up and tangled than it’d ever been.

  “Teague, thank God you’re all right.” His voice was so familiar, and she wanted to be happy to hear it. But things were so complicated now that she had no idea how she felt. “Do they suspect you?” he said. “If they do, even a little…”

  “No. They don’t suspect me.” Until she spoke, she hadn’t been sure she could. Talking to him was overwhelming. Like a dream.

  “Good. We have a chance then,” he said. “Where are they?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “What?”

  His voice wasn’t angry. It was cold. She didn’t want to believe he was the monster they thought, but he wasn’t making it easy. “I don’t know,” she repeated. “They drugged me when they brought me out there, and blindfolded me on the way in.”

  “Oh, Tee. I’m so sorry.” A rush of warmth. The Julian she knew. “Did they hurt you?”

  She shook her head, and realized he couldn’t see it over the phone. “No. They don’t trust me completely … but they wouldn’t hurt me.”

  “Because they think you’re on their side.”

  “Because they don’t hurt people, Julian. At least, they try not to.” She couldn’t believe she’d said that, but there it was. She was defending them. “Something is wrong.”

  “What’s wrong is they’ve got you brainwashed,” he said.

  “No, that’s not it. I’m …” She frowned. Was she brainwashed? Could magic do that? Maybe Noah … no. He’d saved her life in the Badlands, and he’d only been mad because she’d done something stupid in the first place.

  He saved her life in the Warrens, before he knew anything about her.

  And she’d been awful to him. Maybe that’s why he was still mad.

  “Tee, maybe we should get you out,” Ju
lian said on a heavy sigh. “But if it’s working, I’d rather not. It’s still the best chance we have. They tried to kill me, and Grogan and Liza. Remember?”

  Yes, she remembered. Despite all the insistence on minimizing casualties, making Julian dead was a common theme at the camp. But it seemed they might have good reasons.

  “Listen, it won’t be much longer,” Julian said. “You don’t even have to figure out where they are. You can help me set a trap for them instead.”

  “A trap?” she repeated.

  “A false shipment. Two nights from now, on the fourteenth. Tell them it’s massive, two double trailers. It’s leaving Bishop at six southbound on 220, headed for Cheyenne. They’ll hit it once it gets outside Red Butte — and we’ll be ready.”

  Her stomach knotted. They’d be ready to kill them all … and she didn’t think she could let that happen. It also sounded a hell of a lot like this had been Plan A all along, and Julian hadn’t told her. He’d spit out a lot of detail for having just decided to set a trap instead of relying on her to come through. “How am I supposed to know about this shipment?” she said. “I can’t just drop it on them out of the blue. I’m not psychic.”

  “You tell them you heard the patrols talking. Bitching about overtime and being on the road for two days.” Again, ready with the details. “Two more days, Tee. Then you can come home.”

  Home. She still wanted that, desperately. But even if they listened to her, the idea of leading the Darkspawn to their deaths horrified her. Far more than killing the dwarf who was a person, who’d begged for his life, who had a girlfriend waiting for him. One who’d loved him so much, she’d committed suicide rather than live without him.

  Unless Julian had the patrols kill her, too.

  But the only way she’d get home was through Julian. Her choices were to work with him on this, or actually join the Darkspawn forever. Neither of those options was appealing.

  Maybe there was another way.

  “Julian, I know what you want to do. But they’re not monsters,” she said. “They don’t want people getting hurt any more than you do. It’s just … they have a wider definition of people.”

  There was a long, frigid pause. “What are you saying, Teague?”

  “I’m saying I think you can talk to them.” The words left her in a rush. “They’re reasonable people—”

  “Reasonable people who are right now attacking my patrols. A fight I just had you dragged out of.”

  She sighed. “Attacking, but not killing,” she said. “And I think there’s a good chance if you try to negotiate instead of going straight to killing them, they might listen.”

  “Really. You think the Darkspawn will just stop the whole rebellion if I … talk to them.”

  For some reason, that statement chilled her more than anything else. He’d never used the word ‘rebellion’ before — as if he really was the king of the world, and the Darkspawn were defying his rule. “I didn’t say you should order them to stop,” she said quietly. “I said negotiate. You need to give some, too.” She drew a steadying breath. “Julian, some of the things you’re doing are wrong. Your patrols came here willing to kill civilians.”

  Another long pause. Thoughtful instead of cold. “I just don’t know, Tee,” he finally said, once again sounding like himself. “I mean, maybe you’re right. Maybe they will listen. But I doubt they’d agree to just set up a meeting — and you’d have no way of passing that off as overhearing.” He sighed. “Tell them about the shipment,” he said. “Get them there, and I won’t attack. I’ll tell them I want to talk. But if they won’t talk…”

  “They will,” she said. “I really think they will.”

  “All right. I trust you, Tee.”

  It went a long way toward relaxing her, but she still wasn’t sure she could trust him. “Julian, even if they refuse to negotiate … don’t kill them,” she said. “This might take a few tries.” She recalled the fury in Blake’s eyes when he talked about his family — his arrested parents, one brother missing, the other dead.

  “Tee—” Julian swallowed audibly. “I’ll try,” he said. “Talking will be my number one priority, I promise. But I don’t want to drag this out any longer than we have to. I want you home. With me.”

  “Why?” she couldn’t help saying with a touch of bitterness. “You have Carola.”

  “I want you. I was wrong,” he said. “I didn’t want to tell you before, in case you got compromised, but … I’m breaking it off with Carola.”

  She almost hated the tears that sprang to her eyes. “You are?”

  “Yes. I never should have left you,” he said. “I love you. Please, come home to me.”

  A sob escaped before she could stop it. “I love you, too,” she whispered.

  “You don’t know how badly I’d hoped you would say that.”

  She started to respond when three gunshots rang out from what sounded like right behind the truck. Someone shouted, and the truck bounced as the front doors opened. More gunfire. A heavy thud that was someone slamming against the back doors.

  “Julian, I have to go. I’ll get them there. You’ll talk. Don’t kill them.” She threw the phone to the far end of the truck without waiting for his response. He loved her, and she knew him. He’d do this for her.

  Seconds later, there was a loud squall of metal, and someone ripped one of the panel doors off the truck.

  Diesel.

  “Oh, good. You’re alive,” he rumbled. “Let’s move.”

  Teague tried to tell herself the incredible rush of relief and happiness that invaded her at the sight of the big man was for Julian, for what he’d just told her — but she couldn’t quite get there.

  She moved.

  They’d had to wait nearly an hour huddled in the storage room of the empty diner, until the patrols finally took the barricades down and cleared the clinic. When Diesel decided it was safe, he led the way to the four-wheeler waiting behind the abandoned office building. “Let’s go,” he said. “I’ll blindfold you when we’re out of the city.”

  “Great, thanks,” Teague muttered, climbing on behind him once he’d settled. At least he hadn’t asked her anything about what happened when the patrols took her. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to lie convincingly.

  Talking to Julian had rattled her too much to think straight.

  He loved her.

  She wanted to believe it. But in six years, he’d never said those words to her. And it seemed … convenient that he’d finally professed his love when he needed something this big from her. Something she was reluctant to give him.

  Diesel started the engine, and she put her arms around his waist. He stiffened for a moment. She figured he was pissed at having to rescue her and lose so much time, and she didn’t blame him. Especially since she hadn’t actually needed rescuing.

  But when they’d gone a few blocks, she felt something warm and wet seeping into her shirt. Frowning, she eased a hand carefully between them — and Diesel stiffened again, this time with a hiss she heard over the engine noise.

  Blood. A lot of blood.

  “What happened?” she half-shouted, trying to somehow ease her grip without falling off. “You’re bleeding!”

  “I’m fine.”

  “No, you’re not!”

  He snarled something she couldn’t make out. “Patrols at the truck shot me.”

  “Oh my God,” she whispered. She’d gotten him shot, for no damned reason. Louder, she said, “Where? I mean, how bad is it?”

  “Side, shoulder, one grazed my leg. I’ll be fine.”

  Jesus, he’d been shot three times? And he hadn’t said a word about it, the entire time they were in the diner. He was going to die before they made it back. “What the hell’s wrong with you?” she shouted. “Getting shot kills you! We need to go to a hospital, right now—”

  “No.”

  If she hadn’t been clinging to him, her startled flinch would’ve sent her tumbling off the bike. “Diesel. You�
�re going to die.”

  “No, I won’t.” If that were true, he sounded absolutely furious that he’d survive this. “There’s no way in hell I can go to a hospital. I don’t blend.”

  She bit her lip. The Magesign he kept hidden — of course they’d see it. But there had to be a way for him to … well, not die. Because he was bleeding a hell of a lot. “Tell them it’s a tattoo,” she said, even though she knew damned well it would never pass for that. “I know people do that and get away with it.”

  He went completely rigid. “Shut the fuck up,” he said in a flat, lethal tone. “No hospital. I’m not going to die, and we’re going home. Period.”

  Shivering, she decided to shut the fuck up.

  It was ten minutes out of the city. Diesel stopped briefly to put the damned blindfold on, and she spent the next twenty minutes or so trying to breathe so she wouldn’t panic every time the bike hit a bump and rattled back down. It wasn’t working too well. As terrifyingly fast as he was going, she almost hoped he’d push it faster just to get this over with.

  She was still concentrating on the whole breathing thing when there was a massive, grinding pop, a loud hissing sound. And a sudden, crunching jolt that broke her grip on Diesel and sent her briefly airborne.

  The shout rising from her throat whooshed out in a breathless gasp as her back crashed into solid rock. Pain surged through her, turning the dark of the blindfold into a white flash.

  Sometime after she managed to start breathing again, Diesel’s voice rumbled through the pounding hum in her ears. “You all right?”

  “Ugh. No.” She coughed, tried to sit up, and changed her mind. “What happened?”

  “Bike’s dead.”

  The blindfold was carefully removed. She blinked into the muggy light of the evening sun and made out Diesel standing over her, extending a hand. With a concentrated burst of mental motivation, she reached to take it.

  He levered her up, put an arm around her to steady her. “Take it easy a minute,” he said. “You hit pretty hard.”